All Dressed Up!

Today Parijat hosted the first men from Assam to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, and we got to dress up in the traditional Karbi tribe dress. It is similar to a saree, but is three pieces instead of two: a blouse and a skirt (chador) over a petticoat with a mekhela wrapped around the waist and thrown over one shoulder. The women had to teach us how to assemble it, then we got decorative bindi and our hair done by Delumoni. The careful pleats are folded over the petticoat and are basically all that holds up the chador.As Uttam says “it is not like an umbrella… it is like a parallel structure" and is very difficult to walk in, especially with long legs. So we waddled around until we figured out how to take slow, long strides instead of short fast ones. We both had apparently embarrassing moments when we were taking pictures and our skirts came un-pleated, revealing our petticoats! Luckily, one of the teachers came running out and pulled us into a classroom to reassemble us before anyone saw. We also got to interview Mr. Saikia and Mr. Deka to ask them all about Everest which was exciting for us and went really well.